


Laughing

by lilyvalley



Series: The Death of Marlene McKinnon [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Gen, Minor Character Death, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 19:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2882297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyvalley/pseuds/lilyvalley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To him, Marlene is always the laugher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laughing

To him, Marlene is always the laugher.

It is by far her most definitive trait, and it is a pity that pure blood and flaxen hair is wasted on her unworthy body. She of the derisive snort, the amused chuckle, and the outright guffaw never misses a chance to incite his house into verbal spars and magic duels, yet always, always laughs in their faces even as blood pours from her nose or as her arm hangs askew.

It does not matter what he does. It does not matter who wins. Marlene always laughs.

He reaches a point where even the slightest snicker from her direction causes his mouth to twitch, his eyebrows to furrow, and his blood to thrum with irritation and rage. There is no worse sound in the world than the laugh of Marlene McKinnon, a laugh she often throws in his face.

When's the last time you washed your robes, Travers? or Great left hook you got there, such a shame you could barely get my nose. Even as they pass through the corridors, she never misses the chance to spit a jibe at him or even just laugh. Sometimes all she has to do is spot him and she laughs, even without him sneering or heckling or beginning to draw his wand. The sight of him unravels her laughter, and it is all he can do to keep from running back to smack her little jaw out of alignment to keep her from laughing at him. But he can't, not with professors roaming around.

They graduate, and he thinks he is done with Marlene McKinnon, but he encounters her again and again. Sometimes because she, as an Auror, is hunting him, and sometimes because he, as a Death Eater, is hunting her. Even with his face masked, even with no possible way of her identifying him, still she laughs in his face, even as her laughter causes a guttural noise to rip through his body as he attacks her with the worst hexes he knows. She laughs as she dodges him, laughs as she hits him, laughs, even, when he hits her. Sometimes he swears he hears her laugh in his dreams, waking up only to find nothing there but him and the damp cool of his sweat-soaked bed.

One day his right arm burns and he apparates to his master. The Dark Lord informs him that they have found the home of the _McKinnons, those filthy Aurors and blood traitors,_ and he thinks, _Tonight is the night we rid the world of those nasty McKinnons once and for all._ Immediately he is the first to volunteer. _Allow me the honor, my Lord, of killing Marlene McKinnon for you._ The Dark Lord nods his consent, and within a few minutes he is joined by Rosier, Selwyn, Flint, the younger Yaxley, Snape, and the Vaisey twins. There is no chance for the McKinnons, not when they are outnumbered two to one. A hint of a smile on his lips, the Dark Lord whispers the address, and they are gone.

Without delay, Rosier strikes at the father, and he falls. The others lunge up soon enough, but his focus is only on Marlene. Snape joins him in attacking her - like her cousin, Potter, Marlene has never been kind to Snape either, so he cannot blame Snape for joining this fight, though he will not let the other man end it. Somehow in the midst of it all, they lose Snape and he loses his mask, and they end up in another room where it is just him and her and her laughter.

_Come to kill me, have you, Travers?_ she laughs. He responds with a curse that she easily dodges, and he growls. We both know you'll never get me. With a precise flourish, his Crucio misses her by mere centimeters as she ducks and adds, _I'm just glad I'll be the one to send you to Azka-_

Her words evaporate as his _Sectumsempra_ hits her - a trick he picked up from Snape, one he'll be sure to thank him for later. She falls to the floor, gasping, as the blood pours out of her, and he deliberately walks over to her. Before she can send one last spell at him, he easily disarms her, and standing over her, he steps on her wand hand and smiles as the motion elicits a cry from her.

_I am the last thing you will ever see in your wretched life, Marlene McKinnon,_ he whispers in delight, as he watches the blood leave her body and her face, as she literally bleeds out into a corpse and the light fades from her eyes. _Who's laughing now?_

His laughter, his mirthful, triumphant laughter, is how Rosier, Selwyn and Snape - the only conscious ones left - find him, standing over her cold, dead body, laughing and laughing and laughing. Rosier summons his mask, and they drag him out of the house full of bodies, and still he does not stop laughing. The only time he stops is to breathe and cast a harsh _Morsmorde!_ over the shambles of the McKinnon home. 

As the skull solidifies, he lets out one last gleeful chortle. _The last laugh is mine._


End file.
